The Cab
by musicalfreak22
Summary: You can meet in the strangest places. My entry for the Welcome to Storybrook challenge on Tumblr. CS Oneshot, may become a multichapter fic later (at which time the rating may change as well). Marked as complete for now.


_Howdy shipmates! Welcome to my first incursion in the fabulous OUAT fanfic world with this little CaptainSwan oneshot, based on the Tumblr prompt "_ gets into a cab only to find someone else already inside AU". It may become a multichapter fic later, but I want to finish the one I am currently working on first.

A bit shoutout to Dreamtalker1 for her continuous support. You are a fabulous friend!

 **Disclaimer:** ha!

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Manhattan, 5:30 PM on a Friday. And it is pouring rain. Emma is standing on the sidewalk, her arm in the air, trying to hail a cab. She has been at it for at least a half hour, and each cab that has driven by never even slowed down. She even suspects that one of them splashed water in her direction on purpose when driving into the puddle right in front of her.

Emma had remained longer at work than she wanted. Her boss had held her back to talk about her work and her next assignment. He only had good words, so she can't really complain, but she would have preferred if he would have called her to his office earlier in the day. Of course, she didn't tell him that…

So there she is, standing on the sidewalk of one of the busiest areas of Manhattan, trying to catch a cab to get to the pub where she is meeting her friends Mary Margaret and Ruby for drinks. She had texted them earlier to let them know she would be late, god knows Mary Margaret would have worried.

Just as she lowers her arm to give it some rest, a cab slows to a stop in front of her. She immediately jumps into action, pulls the door open and promptly sits down.

"Amsterdam between West 95th and West 96th streets, please," she calls to the driver as she looks at nothing in particular outside.

When the car doesn't move, she frowns, and then she hears "ahem" from beside her. She turns around in surprise and the first thing she notices is eyes as blue as the ocean.

"Do you mind, love?" a deep, masculine voice says.

She mentally shakes herself and looks more closely at this man: dark hair, dark stubble. His eyes are framed by thick, long, dark lashes, making them stand out even more. Her eyes then lower to his lips, which look so soft; she wonders how they would feel against hers.

Wait. There is someone else in the cab with her. A very sexy someone, but someone else nonetheless.

A hand suddenly appears in her face, and she slightly jumps back in surprise. She shakes her head lightly then looks at this man with a frown.

"Are you alright?" he asks.

And he has an accent too… _Focus, Emma_.

"Sorry," she squeaks. She slaps a hand to her mouth, embarrassed at the sound. "Sorry," she repeats after clearing her throat. "I thought this cab was free," she adds sheepishly.

"No worries, lass," he replies with a light smile.

"I'll just…," she trails off before pushing the door open and stepping back out into the rain.

She slams the door shut and steps back onto the sidewalk, embarrassed. Getting in the same cab as someone else isn't so bad… it's the squeaking part. She is usually a composed person, but she lost all common sense the minute she looked at him, and she doesn't quite understand why.

As she shakes her head to get rid of more thoughts of that stranger, the thought of having to wait again for a cab makes her stomach drop. She looks down at her shoes: her favorite red stilettos. But then she thinks back to the weather, and thinks she would rather walk in them all the way to the bar than to stand in one place waiting for another cab. So she starts to walk.

A few blocks away, her jacket and clothes are soaked through, and her shoes are not any better. _Maybe I should have offered to share the fare_ , she silently grumbles.

As she reaches a quieter area, she hears the noise of a car engine behind her. At first, she doesn't care much for it, but the further she walks, the more she notices that the car doesn't move away. She turns her head around and notices a cab following her exact pace. She frowns as she turns her stare back ahead. When she is sure she won't hit anything while walking, she turns her head back around to the cab and tries to discern who is following her, but the car is too far away for her to really see anything.

As she reaches a street corner, the cab suddenly pulls up in front of her, blocking her path completely. Then the back window moves down, and the stranger from earlier appears in the opening. She opens her mouth to say something, but nothing comes out.

 _This kind of stuff only happens in movies_ , is all she can think.

"Hello again, love," he greets her with a wink.

"Hi," she manages to say, without squeaking this time. She is rather proud of herself.

"I have a proposition for you," he says proudly.

Emma's eyebrow goes up at that. "A proposition?" she repeats, perplexed.

"Aye," he nods.

"Let's hear it," she prompts when he doesn't elaborate, crossing her arms.

He smirks.

"Agree to go on a date with me tomorrow, and I will have my mate here," he stops, probably to catch the driver's name, "Leroy, drive you anywhere you like, free of charge."

She mulls over his proposition. A date with a gorgeous stranger couldn't hurt, could it? And she really needs a change of clothes. She can't very well show up at the pub drenched to the bone, can she?

"Okay," she agrees, "but on one condition."

"Name it, love," he smiles.

Is there anything about this man that is not perfect? She wonders when she finds herself slightly star struck by his smile.

"Are you available tonight?" she asks.

"Well, I was meeting some friends for drinks and dinner, but nothing I can't cancel," he replies.

"Come with me for drinks with my friends, and I'll go on that date with you tomorrow."

After what happened to her in the past, she doesn't want to take any chances. It has been her thing since meeting Mary Margaret and Ruby: the guy goes through the friends test before anything else happens. If he passes, she goes on the date. If he fails, well… she finds a way to let the guy down gently.

"Deal," he immediately agrees.

He pushes the door open before moving backwards to give her space to get into the car.

"Where to, milady?" the stranger asks.

"West 106th between Amsterdam and Columbus," Emma replies as the driver pulls away from the curb.

"And just where are you taking us, love?" Gorgeous Stranger asks a few minutes later.

"My apartment. Don't get any ideas, buddy, you will stay in the car while I go in to change," she hurriedly says when she notices a gleam of mischief in his eyes.

"Wouldn't dream of it," he retorts with a wink.

And that's when she notices how bad of a winker he is: while his right eye completely shuts, his left eye almost completely shuts too, ruining the effect. She can't stop herself from laughing.

"What's so funny, lass?" he asks, bemusedly confused.

"You're a terrible winker," she answers honestly. No sense in sugar-coating it.

He barks out a laugh. "I appreciate your honesty…?" he trails off into a question to get her name.

"Emma," she says softly, holding out her hand for him to shake.

"Emma," he repeats just as softly, grasping her hand. "I'm Killian," he introduces himself before bringing her knuckles to his lips for a light kiss, all the while keeping his eyes on her.

"Nice to meet you," she stutters, destabilized by the gesture.

" _Pleasure_ to meet you too," he replies, slowly letting go of her hand.

His lingering fingers tell her that he was quite reluctant; her heart jumps in her chest at the thought. She bites down on her lip and looks away from him, flustered. She feels heat rising on her cheeks. Who is this guy? How does he manage to make her feel like a giddy school girl? She has never been reduced to a blubbering mess around a man before.

Thankfully, the cab pulls up close to her building shortly after, so she quickly escapes the confines of the car and makes her way up to her apartment. She leans on her door after closing it, taking a few deep breaths, and then she removes her coat, hangs it in the closet to dry and walks to her bedroom, working that her skirt's zipper.

As she steps in front of her closet, Emma feels a tug of longing in her belly. But longing at what? It can't possibly… and just as the thought enters her mind, there is another tug. She has been away for what, 5 minutes, and she already misses him? No, that's just… no, Emma thinks. Such a gorgeous, sexy man can't be that interested in her, can he?

Deciding that he is only playing her, she may as well enjoy it while it lasts. She chooses her favorite dress: a black, leather one that reaches just above her knees. The dress has a high neckline, but hugs all of her curves in the right places. She knows she looks great in it.

She makes quick work of changing her clothes, rearranging her hair and touching up her make-up. She grabs her second favorite pair of red stilettos, her red coat and exits her apartment again.

Killian is effectively stunned into silence when she gets into the car. She lets a proud smirk stretch her lips at the look on his face.

He is a perfect gentleman all evening long, and even seems to be genuinely enjoying himself. Just as her friends start talking about leaving, she notices that he has moved his chair closer to hers during the course of the evening. He arm is draped on the backrest of her chair, and his fingers are lightly playing with a strand of her loose hair.

She is reluctant to let him go when he drops her off at her apartment later. He leaves a light kiss to her cheek and a wink, which makes her laugh.

She will definitely see him again.

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 _Here we go! I hope you liked it! Leave a review if you'd be so inclined ;o)  
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